This invention relates to a novel polymer composition having excellent fire resistance, good mechanical and thermal properties and which does not present any hazard to the environment or health.
Recently, demand for fire resistant polymeric materials has increased and laws and regulations regarding fire resistant materials have become more stringent.
Commonly used polymeric materials are easily combustible. There is a prior method which attempts to make these polymeric materials fire resistant by adding a large amount of fireretarding additives, such as halogen containing compound, phosphorous compound, or antimony compound to the polymeric material. However, this conventional method has certain deficiencies, such as the resulting product exhibits certain poor properties and poor thermal stability due to the addition of the large amounts of additive. Also, the problems of hazard to environment and health arise from the process used to manufacture such additives. Moreover, problems arise during the process of adding the additive to the polymeric material, as well as in the usage of the final article or product.
For the purpose of obtaining fire resistant polymeric materials free from the above difficulties, the following conditions should be satisfied. (1) The polymeric material itself must have a favorable structure for imparting fire resistance. (2) The fire retarding additive must be non-poisonous or be low in poison. (3) The required amount of fire retarding agent must be small in amount. (4) The additive must be thermally stable and should not decompose during the molding process, and (5) other conditions if any.